A Hunters Tale
by Venture-Man543
Summary: While drinking with his friend and mentor, Cayde-6, my Hunter comes to recollect his past and the pain that comes with it...


Tale of a Hunter

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DESTINY, CREDIT GOES TO ALL PROPER OWNERS

WARNING: SPOILERS(For Hunters anyway)

I walked past Cayde-6 in the Hall of Guardians, just having finished reporting to Commander Zavala on my latest mission around the Cosmodrome, scouting the apparently swelling numbers of the House of Devils in the area.

"Night Cayde," I said as I passed him, he turned to acknowledge me. "I'm turning in for the night." It had been a long day and even Guardians, especially Hunters, need sleep.

"I'd say the same," Cayde laughed, standing up straighter as he gazed down at his map, splayed across the long the table like a tablecloth. "Except we Exos don't need sleep," he turned and came to walk beside me as I left the hall. "Why don't you join me for the drink down in the lounge before you retire?"

I thought about it for a moment and nodded once in agreement, it'd be a nice little segment of relaxation for me and give me time to catch up with Cayde, a person I considered both a friend and mentor.

We made our way down to the lounge located near the midsection of the tower, a nice, large, round room full of tables, couches and cushions and a nice large balcony, extending out and giving a glorious view of The Last City. Various Guardians sat around, laughing, drinking and generally relaxing from their usual trying and busy lives. Cayde and I entered and sidled up to the bar, talking to the Frame there, we ordered two beers which were promptly handed to us.

What? We may be Guardians, embodiment of Light and defenders of everything good and righteous, but that doesn't mean we can't indulge ourselves in some simple pleasures, does it?

With our drinks in hand, Cayde and I set out in search of a decent table, clear away from the rest of the other Guardians present, eventually we settled on a small table set off to the side against the wall, partially concealed in shadow by the normally dim lighting.

Cayde took a seat across from me, promptly propping his feet up on a nearby chair and taking a deep swig of his beer. Now one wouldn't expect to see a machine drinking beer, but Exos, being the complicated war-machines they are, can, after all, they wouldn't be very effective in the field if they shut down when their insides and other functions got a little wet or dirty.

"So, how are you adjusting to being a Nightstalker?" Cayde asked, setting down his beer.

"Fair enough," I replied. "I'm at least used to it by now, though I doubt I'm as powerful as Tevis." I thought back to a few short months ago, during the early stages of the Taken War, how I'd gone after Caydes old friend, Tevis, one of the few Nightstalkers alive, only to arrive too late and lose him to the Vex, but taking the mantle of the Nightstalker from his ashes. Beforehand I'd been a Gunslinger, a pretty damn good one if I do say so myself, using the power of light and the sun to fight my battles, only to trade it for the exact opposite, void and darkness.

"Ya, well Tevis was a Nightstalker as long as anyone can remember, one of the best we had, since his resurrection and all the way to his death." Cayde fell silent now and I knew he was grieving the loss of his friend, it was one of the few times I saw the usual upbeat and charismatic Hunter Vanguard downtrodden and depressed.

"I'm sorry Cayde," I said. "If I'd only gotten there sooner…"

"There's some things not even we Hunters can stop, kid," Cayde said bitterly. "Tevis was a liar and cheat, with the worst body-odor you could possibly imagine, but he was a friend."

I looked at Caydes sat face, seeing the loss in his eyes and raised my glass.

"To Tevis," I said.

"To Tevis," Cayde echoed, banging his glass against mine and joining me as I took a long swig in memory of the fallen Nightstalker, even though I'd never personally met him.

We then sat there in silence for a time, thinking and maybe occasionally taking a sip of our beverages.

"Do you remember anything before The Collapse?" Cayde suddenly asked.

"Why do you ask?" I inquired, curious.

"Just wondering," Cayde answered, looking across the lounge. "There's a reason we Exos have numbers in our names," he added. "It symbolizes the number of times our memories have been wiped, for me, personally, it's been around six."

"Six," I said in astonishment. "I feel sorry for Banshee-44 then," I said, referring to the local Gunsmith who worked at The Tower. "Can you remember anything?"

"Bits and pieces," Cayde said. "But not enough to establish a reliable memory." He turned to me, drawing his feet off the chair and planting them on the ground. "How about you?"

"At first I couldn't," I said. "When I was resurrected I awoke hazy and delirious with no idea where or who I was with only WinterWhite to guide me." At the sound of his name my Ghost materialized out of the air, coming to look at me with his big round eye, I grinned. "But over time," I continued. "Things started to come back, I remember enough now to at least know how I lived before The Collapse."

"What was it like?" Cayde asked, bringing his beer to his lips.

"I don't know, it's a lot," I said to him with a small grin.

He grinned back. "We got time."

I sighed and started to tell my tale.

"I was born about a decade before the arrival of The Traveler," I began, going to hold WinterWhite in my hand absently. "I lived a normal enough life with my three brothers and my parents."

"What were their names?" Cayde asked.

I shook my head sadly. "I don't know, that's one of the things I can't remember."

Cayde nodded in understanding.

"When The Traveler did arrive," I continued. "Things changed drastically in a quick manner, all over the world, it changed me most of all, I think."

"Why's that?"

"Technology and medicine improved immensely and people started manifesting powers along with these new developments." I paused and sighed. "My brother manifested the ability of magic and ability to manipulate the universe, my parents were so proud they sent him off to the newly built 'Warlock Order' to train. My second brother was blessed with great strength and courage and was sent to train with the Titians."

"What about you?" Cayde inquired.

I laughed, letting bitterness creep into my voice.

"Me? I wasn't blessed with crap, maybe a few sparks of Solar Energy here and there, but besides that, I was completely normal, so I was kept at home with my youngest brother and sent back to school, to learn and adjust to the new norm of society."

"Months passed," I sighed. "And we were constantly receiving word of my brothers improvements and efficiency in their respective orders."

"Finally, I was fed up with it, it took me a while, but I eventually came to a realization, if I was going to find recognition in this 'Golden Age' I was going to have to find it, myself." I paused again, taking a breath. "I ran away one night," I said. "Nothing but a few clothes and some food, I snuck aboard one of the colony ships and stowed away as it left Earth, eventually landing in the Ishtar Sink on Venus."

"I came off, scared and with no idea what I was going to do, after a few days I was desperate and was caught trying to steal some food from the market. The Enforcers came after me, but I ran, ran all the way to the jungle and beyond and by nightfall, I was good and lost amongst the foliage." I said, Cayde sat, listening attentively a look of curiosity and understanding on his face. "I wondered until the very next day, that is, until I attracted the attention of a Venusian Bush Viper."

Cayde took in a breath, knowing of what I spoke and the danger they presented to an unprepared individual. The Venusian Bush Viper was a reptilian species located on Venus, their skin of brown and green scales perfect to blend in with the various brush and foliage that compose the jungles of Venus. Many time the size of a serpent on Earth, they could swallow a man whole and their venom was ten times deadlier than that of the Black Mamba.

"I didn't hear it until it was right there beside me," I said, thinking back as best I could to that moment. "It reared its head up at me and prepared to strike, I screamed, naturally, being only perhaps fifteen at the time. But right when I thought it was going in for the kill, a shot rang out and the viper dropped dead before me and from the bush emerged an old man, around fifty if I recall correctly, dressed ruggedly and wielding a Pre-Golden-Age rifle."

"Do remember his name?" Cayde asked.

I nodded. "Elis Johnfellow," I said. "He asked me what I was doing out there and I honestly told him I didn't know, he asked about my parents and home, I said I'd left them behind, after that he just stood silent for a moment and then told me to come with him." I smiled, the memory being one of the ones I remembered best from before my death. "He lived in an old cabin he built himself in the jungle, not being one for 'people' as he put it," I explained. "I never really learned why, but he took me in after that, we lived by ourselves, out in the bush, he taught me everything he knew, hunting, trapping and how to survive in the Venusian wilderness, being one of the first to live out there."

"We'd guide people through the jungle and do occasional other jobs, but mostly we kept to ourselves, when we weren't trading or guiding some hapless group of refugees through the woods."

I suddenly drew one hand away from WinterWhite and reached into the fold of my cloak, drawing out a small, square photo.

"What to do you have there?" asked Cayde, I handed him the photo, it being of a young boy, dark hair, tan skin, dressed in brown with a white cloak hanging around his shoulders standing next to a tall, grey-haired man, each handling top notch hunting rifles, a small square cabin sitting in the background among the green Venusian flora.

Cayde looked at the picture then back at me, eventually handing it back. "You were younger then," he commented.

I laughed. "I bet we all were," I said, taking one more look at the picture and then tucking back into its keeping place. "I lived with him for ten years," I recollected. "Ten long, perfect years and then…" I stopped, afraid to go on, a sudden despair filling my being.

"What happened?" Cayde asked.

"The Darkness," I said silently, clutching my fist in anger, bitterness and sadness filling my voice, I closed my eyes as tears suddenly came forth. "The Darkness happened."

I took a deep breath, sucking it in through my teeth, eventually gaining enough control to look Cayde in the eyes.

"Venus was one of the first places to get hit," I explained, pausing once more. "They came for us in the night, we first heard their screams and growls far off, but they slowly drew closer, I was barely dressed before they were at our door." I swallowed, trying to control the emotions raging within me. "They threw down the door and swarmed in, just a few thrall at first, Elias shot some, I shot others, then came the acolytes and then the nights, and then finally a wizard…they were too much. Elias forced me out the back, saving me while he held them off as long as they could."

"I fled."

"It was only later when I met up with some fleeing refugees that I learned the entirety of Venus had been hit and then back on Earth that it was the whole cosmos."

I paused, thinking momentarily on the things I was saying and the memories that came along with them, the death, the darkness…

"I was one of the few to survive The Collapse," I said, sitting up straighter, Cayde sat, looking at me silently. "But we were shattered, broken, during the early days of the Dark Age I joined up with Ayane Takanome's Rangers, helping refugees reach what was to become The City safely."

"You were apart of Takanome's rangers?" Cayde asked incredulously. "They're a legend, even among Guardians! Especially Hunters, many of us take after Ayane, many call her the finest Hunter to ever exist!"

"Yep, I was a Ranger," I admitted. "Then I died."

Cayde immediately fell silent, looking at me with sad eyes with admiration and maybe pity, finally he asked. "How?"

"I can't exactly remember," I said honestly. "We were guiding a group of refugees through the Cosmodrome when some Devils ambushed us."

The Fallen had arrived shortly after The Collapse, along with the Cabal and Vex, skimping off the bits and pieces of humanity that weren't already broken and cracked.

"Me and a few others went to hold them off, while the rest got the refugees to safety," I said. "It wasn't long, but soon I was the only one left standing and out of rifle ammo as luck would have it, I guess I knew I was dead, deep inside, so I drew my hand cannon and continued to fight, taking who knows how many with me." I paused once more, approaching the spot that I knew Cayde was waiting to here.

"One of their snipers must have got lucky," I muttered. "One moment I'm standing, the next, I've fallen on the ground, a big burning hole in my chest."

"I faded quickly, painlessly really…"

"Then?" Cayde asked.

"Then," I breathed, looking at WinterWhite in my hand. "The next thing I know I'm awake, the voice of WinterWhite filling my ears." My Ghost looked up at me from his resting space in my palm and gave me what I assumed to be a nod, I smiled back.

Cayde simply sat quietly after I finished speaking, at a loss for words no doubt, finally I stood and stretched.

"I'm turning in," I said finally, nodding towards Cayde in way of goodnight. "See you in the morning."

"Sleep well," Cayde said and I could feel his eyes upon me as I walked across the lounge and out the door.

"Tell me what we're doing here again?" WinterWhite said, ducking under a Venusian tree branch.

"Just keep scanning, will you?" I said, walking through the various foliage. "I'll tell you when we get there." He was impatient, still wondering why I'd brought him to Venus in the middle of the night.

WinterWhite sighed and continued to scan the area, his scanner rays sweeping through the foliage.

"Wait," he said finally, freezing in the air. "There's a structure up ahead."

I hurried forward, running through the last few yards of the brush, my cloak flapping behind me, I eventually stepped into a small clearing, clean Venusian soil, completely cleared away of plant life with a low, wooden structure, overgrown with vines and plants and a broken down door, sitting right in its center.

"What is this place?" WinterWhite asked, coming up beside me and looking at the old cabin before us.

"Home…"

Hey Guys! Hope you enjoyed the story! I mainly wrote this for two reasons…

A. I've had this idea for a while and always wanted to put it on FanFiction

And B. to tell my readers(what readers I have) that I haven't entirely died on them. For those of you reading my Sipranai story, things are coming along and I'm probably going to update in a few weeks…

I mainly wrote this because I love to give my characters in video games, books and movies backstories and love to share them with others. This one I've had for a while and have constantly changed and edited until I became satisfied to put it down on paper…

After all, what is a Hunter without a backstory?;)


End file.
